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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Horror fiction must-read list: the top 25

A reader asks:

Dear Ed: You’ve written horror fiction of your own,
but what are your influences? Or what horror novels do you recommend (other
than your own books, of course ;)?

A fair question. As I’ve
noted, I’ve been influenced by a lot more than just horror fiction, and I actually
don’t read all that much horror fiction anymore. (I don't like most of the
newer horror fiction, truth be told.)

Nevertheless, there is some
horror fiction out there that is legitimately worth reading—must-read horror
fiction, in fact. These titles are listed below, my top 25

Salem’s Lot,
Stephen King

The Shining,
Stephen King

Carrie,
Stephen King

The Stand,
Stephen King

Night Shift,
Stephen King

Everything’s Eventual, Stephen King

Pet Sematary
Stephen King

Different Seasons, Stephen King

Skeleton Crew, Stephen King

Christine,
Stephen King

The Rising,
Brian Keene

Ghoul,
Brian Keene

Dracula
Bram Stoker

Frankenstein,
Mary Shelley

Rosemary’s Baby, Ira Levin

Hell House,
Richard Matheson

I Am Legend,
Richard Matheson

The Exorcist,
William Peter Blatty

The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson

Song of Cali, Dan Simmons

Carrion Comfort, Dan Simmons

Ghost Story,
Peter Straub

If You Could See Me Now, Peter Straub

The Turn of the Screw, Henry James

Jaws, Peter Benchley

I would also include the
collected works of both Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft, which both consist
mostly of short stories, and are available in various printed and Kindle-based
formats.

*
* *

You’ll notice, of course,
that almost half of the above books were authored by Stephen King; and
I’m perfectly fine with that. King took a niche genre and transformed it into
the stuff of popular, mass-market fiction, by populating the world of horror
with likeable, sympathetic characters that readers genuinely care about.

You’ll also notice that most
of the Stephen King books I recommend are ones that he wrote prior to 1988. I’m
okay with that, as well. Over time, Stephen King’s quality has varied considerably
(though some of his recent works are still very, very good.) Also, King has
diversified away from straight horror since the late 1980s. I read 11/22/63 earlier this year. That’s a
good book—very much worth your time; but it isn’t exactly horror. 11/22/63
isn’t horror at all, in fact, but would better be classified as science fiction
or fantasy.

And no, I’m not going to put
Eleven Miles of Night or Hay Moon on the above list, although I
would of course be delighted if you would consider them after you’ve had a
chance to read the books enumerated above. (I’ve
got to eat, after all.)